http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/septiembre/vier28/One-more-argument-for-the-UN.html
Havana. September 28, 2007
Reflections of President Fidel Castro
One more argument for the UN
WHILE working on the already famous Greenspan book, I read an article
published by El País, a Spanish newspaper with a circulation of more than
500,000, according to reports; I would like to pass this on to the readers. It
is signed by Ernesto Ekaizer, and it literally reads:
"Four weeks before the Iraq invasion which happened in the night of March
19 to 20, 2003, George W. Bush publicly sustained his demands of Saddam Hussein
in the following terms: disarmament or war. In private, Bush acknowledged that
war was inevitable. In a long private conversation with the then Spanish
president, José María Aznar, held on Saturday, February 22, 2003 at the
Crawford Ranch in Texas, Bush made it clear that the moment had come to get rid
of Saddam. 'We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. We will
be in Baghdad at the end of March', he told Aznar.
"The moment has come to get rid of Saddam.
"As part of this plan, Bush had accepted, on January 31, 2003 - after an
interview with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair - to make a last
diplomatic maneuver: to introduce a second resolution to the United Nations
Security Council. His objective: to clear the way legally for a unilateral war
that the United States was getting ready to unleash with more than 200,000
soldiers who were in the region ready to attack.
"Bush was aware of Blair's internal difficulties and he knew of Aznar's.
Only seven days before that meeting at the Crawford Ranch, three million people
were demonstrating in several Spanish cities against the imminent war. 'We need
your help with our public opinion', Aznar asks. Bush explains to him the scope
of the new resolution that he is going to present: 'The resolution will be
tailor made to help you. I don't care about the content'. To this, Aznar
replies: 'That text would help us to be able to co-sponsor it and be its
co-authors, and get many people to sponsor it'. Aznar then offers to give Bush
European coverage, together with Blair. Aznar's dream of consolidating a
relationship with the United States, following in the footsteps of the United
Kingdom, was about to become reality.
"Aznar had traveled with his wife, Ana Botella, on February 20 to the
United States making a stopover in Mexico to persuade President Vicente Fox
-unsuccessfully- of the need to support Bush. On the 21st, the couple,
accompanied by the President's assistants, arrived in Texas. Aznar and his wife
stayed at the ranch guest house.
"In the meeting on the following day, Saturday, President Bush, his then
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Daniel Fried, the chief of
European Affairs at the National Security Council, were present. Aznar, on his
side, was accompanied by his international policy advisor, Alberto Carnero and
the Spanish Ambassador in Washington, Javier Rupérez. As part of the meeting,
Bush and Aznar had a four-way telephone conversation with the British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and the Italian President Silvio Berlusconi.
"Ambassador Rupérez translated from the English for Aznar and also from
the Italian for Condoleezza Rice; another two interpreters did the same for
Bush and his collaborators. It was Rupérez who drafted the minutes of the
conversation in a memorandum that has been kept secret until today.
"The conversation is impressive because of its direct, friendly and even
menacing tone when, for example, they refer to the necessity of some countries
like Mexico, Chile, Angola, Cameroon and Russia, members of the UN Security
Council, voting for the new resolution as a show of friendship towards the
United States or else they would have to suffer the consequences.
"They are cautioned about zero expectations for the work of the
inspectors, whose chief, Hans Blix, had dismantled just one week earlier, on
February 14, the arguments presented by United States Secretary of State Colin
Powell at the Security Council on February 5, 2003, with 'solid facts'
enthusiastically supported by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana
Palacio. The same facts that Powell himself later described as a bunch of lies.
"The Blix Report
"According to Blix, Iraq was taking steps towards active cooperation in
solving the pending issue of disarmament. His tone had been less critical than
that of his report of January 27, 2003. 'Since we arrived in Iraq three months
ago we have made more than 400 inspections, with no advance warning at 300
sites. Until now, the inspectors have found no prohibited weapons.If Iraq
decides to cooperate even more closely, the period of disarmament by the
inspections can still be short´, the chief inspector pointed out.
"The General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
Mohamed El Baradei released information on February 14 that there were still
some technical issues left to clear up. But, he added, 'now there are no more
disarmament problems left to solve'. According to him, absolutely no proof had
been found that Iraq had been carrying out nuclear activities or activities
related to nuclear energy, another clear lie about what Powell had stated about
the Iraqi nuclear program.
"Both the first results of the inspections and the end of the United
States preparations led Bush to set the beginning of the military operation
towards the date of March 10, 2003. Later, nine days were added in order to get
the second resolution. The process of moral persuasion in which Aznar and
Palacios worked by phone and in bilateral meetings did not succeed in pulling
in more than four votes: those of the three promoters and Bulgaria. They needed
9 votes.
"The failure of this legal coverage for the imminent war led Bush, with
Blair and Aznar, to agree to a summit meeting in the Azores on March 16, 2003,
a place suggested by Aznar as an alternative to Bermuda for a reason he
explained to Bush: 'Just the name of these islands suggests an item of clothing
that is not exactly the most appropriate for the seriousness of the moment in
which we find ourselves'. There, on that March 16, Blair, Bush and Aznar
decided to replace the United Nations Security Council. They usurped its
functions to declare war on Iraq at their own risk. On the morning of March 17,
the United Kingdom ambassador at the UN announced in New York the withdrawal of
the second resolution. A defeat in the voting would have complicated even
further the race towards war."
Fidel Castro Ruz
September 27, 2007.
7:25 p.m.
Translated by ESTI
